No Child Left Behind
by IshiHatake23
Summary: Miss Keane goes about her usual Friday evening routine of getting groceries and heading home- until she sees Ace get in a fight across the street. This wasn't any way for someone to live, especially not a child. Hungry, on the streets with blood on his face, getting in fights, and running around in dirty alleys. She took a vow to help every child, and Ace Copular is no exception.
1. Chapter 1

As the last of the kids ran out of her school for the weekend, Miss Keane had gone about her usual Friday routine. Tidy up, make sure all the caps were on the paint cups, pack up her lesson plan binder, and hop into her car for a trip to the grocery store.

But that was as far as she'd gotten when her comfortable schedule was thrown off.

After crossing everything off her meager grocery list and loading the bags into the back seat, the she was ready to call it a day and head home. Except when she'd been sliding into the driver's seat the sharp slap of a fist connecting with skin brought her head up. Years of breaking up playground scuffles had her out of her seat and looking around on reflex.

There, across street between the furniture rental and second hand thrift store, was the fight. She wasn't about to go head first into that, downtown brawls usually meant drugs or gang activity, so she kept a careful eye on the while she fished out her cellphone in case she had to call the police or Sarah to get a hold of The Girls. Grabbing an unreturned cart someone had carelessly left in a parking space so she would look inconspicuous, Miss Keane pushed it towards the return rack closest to the road to get a better look at what was going on.

About three parking spots away from the cart return was when she got a clear view of the drama- and a familiar face.

Ace Copular was in the middle of the scrap. The alley was too far away for her to see any real details, but the blood on his face stood out in stark contrast to his green skin. There were three other people in the alley, laughing and sneering and looking all to happy to surround the teen who was bowed up at the shoulders and baring his teeth like a cornered animal.

 _"Why is he alone? Where are his friends?"_ , she wondered, looking up and down the street for the rest of the gang in hopes of flagging them down to tell them he needed help.

But the other gangreens were nowhere in sight and she hit 911. Sure Ace was a troublemaker as mean as they come, but she didn't want the kid out numbered and beaten down in some alley.

At almost the same time as she hit the call button whatever standstill the four had been in was broken and the three men lunged for Ace. She shouted for them to stop, though, as loud as the buzz of downtown and the roar of the freeway was they didn't her. Or just didn't care.

As Ace staggered back from a hit protective instincts honed over years of caring for children reared up and snarled, almost sending the teacher marching across the street to the teen's defense. Or at least she would have gone over there if Ace hadn't picked that moment to turn the whole thing on it's head.

Just as fast as he'd went down Ace was back on his feet and something that both the teacher and the the assailants had forgotten became suddenly clear. This was someone who, though he was on the losing end, squared up with three super powered girls who could rip whole buildings off their foundations. And now it was glaringly obvious that a few 'normies' weren't going to be enough to take him down.

 _"This is 911, what is your emergency? ..Hello?"_

He brawled like you would expect from a hard eyed street kid, hard hits that were aimed for heads and sharp kicks to guts. Took every hit with a sneer before throwing one right back. But there was something else, something that was just Ace, the way he snapped his fangs when any of them tried to grab at him, and going by the way his lips were twitching she guessed he was growling too. It only too a minute, if that, of Ace switching to the offensive to send the three high tailing it down the street.

 _"Hello, does somebody need help?"_ The operator pressed.

"Oh, yes, I.." Miss Keane watched Ace wipe at his face, pick up his shades, and stagger out of the alley quickly as a siren went off a few blocks down. "No, I'm sorry, it was a false alarm. I thought someone was in trouble, but I was wrong."

 _"Ma'am, are you sure? I can send someone over."_

"No, it's fine, thank you. I'm sorry about the misunderstanding." She hung up, watching the teen weave down the sidewalk.

The crowds took time out of their busy hustling and bustling around to avoid him; sneering, scowling as they passed, and looking at him in disgust like.. Well, like they always did. But couldn't they see he was hurt? He was just a kid and he was bloody and limping and nobody cared.

Nobody but her apparently.

With a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach she knew wasn't going to go away any time soon Miss Keane climbed back into her car. It wasn't anything new for Ace to get in fights, she'd seen him scuffed up plenty of times- a handful of said fights had taken place in her school yard. But that was different, those had been when he was out of hand, threatening or hurting people. This was just someone hurting him just for the sake of hurting him.

In all honesty, she was sad for him, a little scared too. This wasn't any way for someone to live, especially not a child. Hungry, on the streets with blood on his face, getting in fights, and running around in dirty back alleys. Ace may have been a mean-spirited, spiteful punk, but he didn't deserve this.

Maybe that's why she found herself looking for him as she drove home. Scanning every street corner, double taking when she saw black hair, someone even had to honk at her at a green light because she could have sworn she'd seen an orange and blue vest. He couldn't have gone far, maybe she could find him.

And about two blocks from her home, sure enough, there he was in the park. By the time she snagged somewhere to park he was out of sight, but from what she'd seen he'd still been staggering like a drunk, she could catch him. What she'd say or do when she did, though, she was still trying to figure out.

Miss Keane hurried out of her car before she stopped and went back for her school bag, more importantly, for the first aid supplies she kept in it just in case. Getting him cleaned up would be a good place to start- assuming he'd let her.

Jogging down the neat little path she kept her head on the swivel, trying to figure out where he would've gone. Logic told her in the direction of the City Dump, but if that were the case he wouldn't have crossed into the park in the first place since the Dump was on the opposite side of the road. She thought of asking someone if they'd seen him. Then again how well would that go over? What if they thought he'd done something like stolen from her or some other belligerent thing and called the police or The Girls and they hurt him before she had the chance to explain?

No, she'd find him on her own.

She didn't have to go far though. Ace had apparently had enough of stumbling around and taken a seat on a bench that was under the shade of a tree a little ways off the walking path. He was curled forward, elbows on his knees, with his sleeve pulled down and bunched in one hand to press against his forehead.

Teetering down the little slope, Miss Keane rounded the bench carefully. "Ace?"

He flinched. Not in a 'you startled me' way, but a full body, defensive flinch like he was bracing for pain.

When none came the teen slowly uncurled and looked up at her- then immediately looked right back down. "I was just leavin'.."

"No, please, wait." She put a hand on his shoulder to stop him when he made a move to get up- which he quickly recoiled from, but thankfully stayed seated. "I saw what happened, I wanted to see if you were okay."

He blinked up at her, looking completely confused. It was the same look her students gave her when she accidentally slipped off on a General Relativity triad during a lesson; as if she'd presented him with a concept he couldn't get his head around.

"Let me help you." Slowly, very slowly so she wouldn't spook him, Miss Keane sat beside him with her bag in her lap.

"I don't need help, Miss K, 'm fine." It would have been a lot more convincing if he wasn't trying to mop the blood off his face.

"Ace," she said with the slow, firm tone she used with her stubborn kids, "you're bleeding. Badly."

"I said _I'm fine_." In a defensive huff he tried to shoot to his feet, probably meant to storm off too, but the sudden shift made him sway and almost trip over his own feet.

"Ace, _**stop**_. Sit down." She pulled him back down by the arm. "You're going to fall and crack your skull open."

"Just got a little dizzy is all." He insisted, stubbornly pulling his arm away and pressed his sleeve back against the cut on his forehead.

Reluctantly, Miss Keane backed off to let him simmer down. As bad as she wanted to help there was a very real possibility of accidentally running him off. Maybe, if she just sat with him like this for a bit, he'd warm up to her being near him and let her.

It reminded her of Valentino.

When she'd first rescued him from the shelter as a scruffy, under fed kitten he would hiss and shy away from her when she tried to pet him. He wouldn't let her treat the mites or brush the mats out of his hair. Even food wasn't reliable bait, he would refuse to go to his bowl if she was too close to it even though he had to have been starving. So instead of trying to be the initiator, she'd just sit in the general area and let him get used to her being around. It had take a while, but slowly he'd started to come closer.

Then one day, when she'd been lining her lesson plans, the scraggly little fluff ball had walked right onto her binder to demand attention. She'd gotten to stroke him and finally put his collar on, the next morning he's even let her hold him and give him his medicine. He'd just needed space and maybe, she hoped, it was what Ace needed too.

She drew the line when Ace's sleeve was soaked through. Those few short minutes probably hadn't been enough time, but it was as long as she could stand. Digging through the bag she found the alcohol wipes, ripped one open, and very gently put her free hand on his arm. But even though she'd tried to be as easy and nonthreatening as she could, he pulled back; shifting away and giving her a wary, lost look from over his glasses that absolutely broke her heart.

Again, she backed off, lowering her hand to her lap. "You're still bleeding pretty bad and I don't think that sleeve's going to be much help anymore."

Obviously confused, he pulled his hand back and looked surprised at how much blood there was. "Didn't know it was that bad.."

"You're a bit of a mess." Sometimes joking with guarded kids, even when the situation wasn't funny, put them at ease.

She made good on the gamble when he cracked a smile. Thank God.

"Just 'a bit', huh? That ain't so bad right?" Except his smile dropped when the tilt of his lips made the blood from his nose run down into his mouth. When he tried to wipe it away with the back of his hand all it did was smear the mess even worse. "Crap."

It was hard to tell where his eyes were directed with the shades in the way, but she had a feeling he was looking at the wipe in her hand. Even though the tension wasn't so heavy anymore she knew better than to move in again; if he wouldn't even let her put her hand on his arm he wasn't about to let her touch his face.

Instead, she held the little square out to him. "Here."

He stalled out and for a second and Miss Keane thought he wasn't going to take it, but after a moment of tension he accepted it and started mopping up. Though, she wasn't ready to call it a victory yet because after a few scrubs with the thing it was obvious he wasn't very good at this.

"You don't usually patch yourself up, do you?"

"If it's bad enough I need it then Snake takes care of me." By his tone, he knew how bad he was doing. Looking frustrated that the wipe was already soaked and useless, Ace wadded it up with a weak growl and threw it at the ground. "You got anymore of those?"

"I have plenty." Without thinking she ripped open the little foil packet and passed over a fresh one.

He looked at the pad, up at her, and back down before snorting out a laugh. "You know I could'a opened that, you didn't have to do it for me."

Realizing what she'd done, Miss Keane laughed at herself, "It's a force of habit, my kids usually can't open these things, so I'm used to doing it."

An eyebrow popped up over his sunglasses and she had a feeling he was staring.

"What?"

"Nothin', just feels weird, you treatin' me like a kid." Ace sounded..sad?

"But, you _are_ a kid?"

"I ain't one of _yours_ , though."

For some reason that just didn't sound right to her. Of course he was. Maybe not all the time or even often- to be honest this was the first one on one interaction they'd ever had- but right now he was absolutely her kid. "Once one of mine, always one of mine and you were-"

"For like an hour." he cut in, and even though his tone sounded like he was trying to joke she caught the dry note and the way the corners of his mouth twitched down, "And we all saw how that turned out."

He took the wipe from her when the silence got uncomfortable, trying to clean up one more time- again, doing a piss poor job of it. She wanted to tell him he needed to pat not scrub or it would just make the cut bleed more. She also wanted to say she was sorry for that day, for setting The Girls on him and his friends. He'd been in the wrong and something needed to be done, but she was starting to feel bad about the how of it. Maybe if she'd tried talking to him instead, sat with him like she was now, the whole dodge ball thing wouldn't have had to happen.

"Thanks, by the way." Ace said more to the ground than to her, "For givin' me and the boys the benefit of the doubt that day. It was a bad call and we fuc- er- _messed_ it up and everybody knew we would. But, you know, thanks for the chance anyways."

It stung her heart that this kid felt the need to thank her for a basic kindness. "Like I said, you're a kid. You're supposed to get chances."

"Yeah, well, most people don't see the 'kid' part, just the worthless, street walking.." He dropped off and she saw the way his shoulders curled in a little. "Anyway, I'm not used to chances and someone actually treatin' me like a kid and all that."

All the self deprecation coming from him was..odd. This wasn't the Ace she knew. Ace was a snarky, over confident, strutting peacock. Then again that should have been a dead giveaway from the start. In her experience, kids like him were far from happy; they were miserable and angry with their self esteem shot to all kinds of hell. They usually covered it all up with fake arrogance and misplaced aggression. And she'd bought into Ace's cover just like everyone else, even when she should have _known_ better. How didn't she pick up on it sooner?

"I give up." Came the sudden, defeated snarl.

Her knee jerk reaction was to gear up for the 'everything will be okay' talk, but no she realized he was just talking about the cut over his eyebrow. From all the rough treatment the bleeding hadn't stopped, it only took maybe twenty seconds tops for it to drip behind his sunglasses and from the way he winced she guessed it had run into his eye.

Pity made her heart twist as he threw the wadded up wipe down with the other one and shoved up his shades, pawing at his eye.

One more try couldn't hurt right?

"Ace?"

He turned his head to her, still rubbing under his glasses and he looked so much like a sulking, upset child- which he was as far as she was concerned.

"I know you already said 'no' but, _please_ , would you let me help you?"

His mouth twisted down and he looked away; a solid, silent shut down. Until there was too much blood to try to keep out of his eye. At that moment all the fight appeared to go out of him, his shoulders dropping and head hanging low and he curled forward a little. In an odd way, he looked.. kind of frail like that. This boy, who picked fights and mugged people and could easily pass as a bonafied monster, looked small curled into himself.

" ..'Kay.."

The shame in that single word was so thick. Over the small, simple act of letting her take care of him, he was completely ashamed.

How long had it been since anyone other than his friends had done something like this for him? Shown him any kindness at all?

One more round of rooting through her bag and opening another alcohol wipe she was reaching out to him again. This time, though, he didn't shrink back, letting her hold his face and dab at the cut. He was tense and his hands kept twisting in his lap, but she'd take what she could get.

A few strands from his bangs had gotten mixed up with what was trying to clot so she started there, working them out of the sticky mess that was trying to clot. When she pushed them back, putting her fingers through his hair to make them stay, she felt small, raised patches on his scalp. Scars.

What had caused them? Fights with other civilians like today? Getting hit with clubs by the police? Or being kicked though windows? Thrown against walls? Thrown against any hard surface really, not just walls; concrete bridges, buildings, vehicles, trees. Then there'd been that one time Blossom had smacked him with a street sign..

God, the more she thought about it the more this kid broke her heart.

Thankfully, the cut itself wasn't all that bad, just messy. It took three more of the wipes to get it as clean as it would get even though the skin was still stained a slight red. He wouldn't let her go under the shades though, apparently that's where he firmly drew the line and wouldn't budge on it. But he took one of the nonalcoholic antiseptic wipes in her bag she promised him wouldn't sting his eye when she offered so he could take care of it himself.

"I'm not gonna need stitches am I?", he asked when she finally stopped with all the wipes.

Miss Keane folded a square of gauze against the cut and taped it in place. "I think you'll be okay with just this."

Over the years Miss Keane had learned forehead cuts had a nasty habit of bleeding and looking worse than they really were. Like when Robin fell off the see-saw and she'd had to convince the little girl that she wasn't 'going to bleed to death'. But still, she didn't think a fist could make this kind of cut, those people must have used something. Brass knuckles, or a knife, or something equally low. Like ganging up on him three to one wasn't enough.

"Can I ask you something?" It had been bothering her since this whole thing started and since he was patched up she figured he'd be fine if he decided to take off if he didn't like her prying. "Why didn't you fight back from the start? Why let them hit you?"

"Couldn't. I mean I could'a, but cops always arrest me even if I'm the one that got jumped. They won't listen to me if I try sayin' that, just throw me in the back of a cruiser and apologize to their 'perfect, innocent, _**normal**_ citizens' for not gettin' me sooner." The mocking, bitter sarcasm let on just how much the words actually hurt and how often he's probably heard them. "I didn't wanna go to jail alone, that's why."

 _Alone_

"Where are your friends, Ace?"

"Right heress."

Miss Keane startled, almost jumping off the bench. She hadn't even heard Snake come over; no footsteps or anything that would have given him away, but there he was, standing right behind the bench.

"Well, jussst me."

Ace craned his neck around. " 'Ey, Snake."

The thin teen slid around Ace's side of the bench while keeping a cautious eye on the teacher, not so different from the one Ace had given her when she'd first sat down with him. His slit eyes narrowed on the bandage and all the red stained wads on the ground before shooting her a cold look. "Whatss happened?"

"It's okay, Snake, Miss K helped me, she's cool."

That sharp glare immediately pulled back and softened. With whatever threat he thought the teacher might have been cleared up and off the table Snake gave Ace his total attention, looking him over like he was checking for anymore injuries. "Youss were ssuppossed to come back an hourss ago, wess got worried."

"Got in a scrap out by the supermarket." Ace inclined his head at Miss Keane. "She tracked me down and helped me out."

Snake looked in the direction of the store, one eyebrow doing a little quirk. "That'ss.. out of the wayss. Why didn't youss come home, it'sss jusst acrosss the sstreet?"

"Didn't want Billy to faint like he did last time he saw blood." Ace cracked a smile up at his best friend." 'Sides, the world was spinnin' too fast, figured I should sit down for the ride."

"Whatss am I going to do with youss?"

"Mmm..Take me home, feed me potato chips, and tell me I'm pretty?" Ace wagged his eyebrows teasingly, his smile getting wider so his fangs started to peek out.

Snake hissed out a laugh and stuck a hand out to help Ace up. "Well, I can do two of thosse thingss."

Ace grabbed the offered hand, tilting his head in fake innocence. "Oh, are we out of potato chips?"

Miss Keane couldn't have stopped the laugh if her life depended on it.

But all the fun went out of the situation when Snake pulled his best friend up and Ace's balance didn't seem to be on board with the get-up-and-go. He lurched and banged into Snake, the younger teen catching him and keeping them both up while hissing a few choice words the teacher decided to be deaf to.

"Nev'a mind, world's still goin' too fast.." Ace grit out, gingerly pressing his spinning head against Snake's shoulder.

 _"There's no way he can walk home."_ Miss Keane realized and started looking around.

About twenty or so yards across the walking path there was a barbecue sight and a little parking lot. It would take her a while to go get her car and navigate the traffic to get there, but there was no way she was going to leave these boys.

She dug out her car keys as Snake got Ace back on the bench. "Boys, listen, I'm going to go get my car and bring it around to the grills over there, then I'm taking you home, okay?"

They looked at her and suddenly the caution was back, even from Ace and it killed her that she knew why without even having to think about it.

"I'll come back, I promise."

And she did; it took a while to get through the evening rush and she may have run a red light when she'd seen The Girls race across the sky towards the boys' general direction, but she finally pulled into the tiny lot to see the two of them right where she'd left them.

They looked honestly surprised when she came back to the bench, to the point where she had to tell them it was time to go twice before the words actually got through to them. She got on Ace's opposite side with Snake on the other and they made their way carefully to her car. She shoved the groceries into the furthest corner of the backseat so they'd have room and ushered them inside- which took another round of repeating herself to coax them in there. It was a tense first few blocks, the two of them coiled up in the backseat like they were waiting for her to kick them out. The closer they got to the dump, the more they eased up and relaxed.

She eased up to the gate, letting the car idle for a second before craning her head back to them. "How good is the road going inside?"

"It'sss okay?" Snake answered slowly like he didn't understand why she would ask, "They fill in the pot holess and keep the wayss clear for the truckss to get throughss."

"Good." She hit the gas again and put the car on the trash packed dirt road. "I've never come in before, just point me in the right direction."

She saw the two of them look at each other in her rear view, all raised eyebrows and dropped jaws before Snake spoke up again. "Uh, there'sss a chop-ssshopped jalopy right up heress. It'ss hard to sssee for the car, but there'sss a path right behind it, take it."

She followed his directions, every so often he'd pipe up again, pointed her down another way until the shack finally appeared out of the mounds of trash and she pulled up just a few feet from the rickety front porch. "Here we are, boys."

"Thanks, Miss K." Ace said as he sat up from the half laying position he'd spent most of the ride in once he was convinced she wasn't going to throw them out- maybe he liked car rides?

"Hang on jussst a ssec." Snake said to her over his shoulder as he opened the door, sticking his head out and.. made the 'ok' sign with one hand and stuck the fingers between his lips?

Out of the rear view mirror she saw Ace's hands snap up to cover his ears and she realized what Snake was doing half a second too late and didn't have the chance to fully cover her own ears. The whistle was so high and sharp and _loud_ it set off a ringing in her ears.

The shacks door opened and Billy, Arturo, and Grubber took two steps out and one big step back the second they saw her car.

"Heyss!" Snake's voice was so firm Miss Keane actually turned around in her seat to check that it was coming from him. "Did I whisstle or not?"

Now they came running.

She looked at Ace and the shock must have shown on her face because he laughed. "He didn't get the 'second in command' title just because he's my best friend."

Apparently not.

"Oooo, you guys got in trouble~" Ace sing songed as the three crowded around the open door.

Arturo's head poked into the car, "We didn't know who's- Jefe, what happened to you, man?"

"Laterss." Snake hissed and moved out of the way. "Billy, come heress. Grab him and get him inssside."

"Duh, okay, Snake- Hi, Miss Keane!" Billy stopped to wave at her, one arm around Ace's middle, leaving him dangling.

"Billy, will ya put me-"

"Is that Miss K?" Arturo's head popped up again, "Hi, Miss Keane!"

"Ppbbth!"

"Hi, boys." She chimed back, returning the smiles and waves.

"Hello, dizzy with a head injury over here!" Ace groused over the hi-how-are-ya's.

At that Snake shut the open door and shooed the three, "Okaysss, insside guyss, _tout suite_."

Billy readjusted his grip on Ace, holding him in one arm like people did puppies, and headed to the shack, Ace ranting about the hold every step of the way. The other two followed, leaving Snake standing at the car.

He surprised her for the third time that day as he ducked his head down so he could see into the car, fixing her with the most sincere look of gratitude. "Thank youss, for helping him."

She was so taken back by his sincerity she almost let him walk away. "Snake, wait!"

He paused before back tracking and silently tilting his head back into view.

She made a grab for one of the grocery bags behind her seat that was tied at the top to set it apart from the others. It was the one she was going to bring to school for the children's snack time next week, but she could pick up more later.

"Here." She passed the bag through the window and into his thin arms.

"Butss-"

"It's got two cases of juice boxes and three trays of cookies, take it. Make Ace eat some when you get in there, it should help a little with the dizziness- I hope." The 'and because I'm afraid you don't have anything else to eat' went unspoken, but she think it got across to him.

"Okay, thankss."

This time she let him walk away and didn't shift the car back into drive until he was inside with the others.

When she got home she toed off her flats, put away her meager groceries, and sat down with her lesson binder like she did every Friday night. Back to her schedule, back to same old same old, back to her completely regular, tried and true rut..

She grabbed for the phone, Valentino complaining loudly as he was disturbed from his usual seat on her lap.

"Townsville's Snappy Pizza Delivery, this is Jell, how can I help you?"

"Hi, Jell, it's Miss Keane I need to place an order."

"Sure, teach, what would you like? It's a little late to be ordering for your kids ain't it?"

"Not at all actually."

She rattle off a massive order; extra larges, all different with loaded down toppings, bread sticks, at least two of each dessert they offered, and five liters of cola.

Jell whistled in awe when everything was finally placed and Miss Keane was given the code to go on line and pay for her order on her credit card. "That's a tall order. Where do you want it? The school tomorrow? You having some kind of Saturday party thing for the kids?"

"The City Dump tonight."


	2. Repaying the Favor

Very short, but I got a few messages asking what came after. I never really planned to post this because there's not much of it and I never planned for it to be a point of closure- and it's still not because I want it to be open ended.

* * *

Sometimes she would see him pass the school or loitering around town. Ace was a roamer, of course she was going to see him around.

But he did tend to crop up in her usual spots, like the supermarket on Fridays, A Little Taste on Tuesdays when she picked up her usual take-out dinner, and sitting at the Oak Street bus stop across from the school on Thursday nights when she tended to stay late grading papers. Sometimes she'd get a wave or a nod, but he never actually approached her, just watched her go to her car before heading off somewhere. In an odd way it had become part of her routine to check to see if he was around.

But today Miss Keane's schedule had hit a little hiccup. Her teacher's assessment was coming up and she'd been late getting out of the school, almost eight o'clock at night, after getting side tracked getting all of her papers together. A Little Taste closed at eight-thirty and she hadn't called anything in yet, so she decided to skip take-out tonight because she didn't want to bother the staff who were probably already shutting the kitchen down and cleaning up. She could make due with the frozen dinners in the freezer for tonight.

When she got home Valentino didn't come to greet her. Odd..

"Valentino?" Miss Keane jingled her keys playfully, maybe he hadn't heard her come in? "Here kitty kitty.."

The cat's nose poked out from under the couch and he meowed, long and forlorn like he did during thunderstorms- which with tonight's clear, starry sky, made no sense.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" She crouches down so she can reach under the furniture and scoop him up. "What scared you?"

A truck or something had most likely backfired outside and startled him she thinks and sits down on the couch to pet him. Normally he would settle down after a few minutes of TLC and babying and go back to doing whatever tickled his little kitty fancy. This time, not so much. Halfway through an episode of The Loved and The Loveless and he was still curled up tight with his face in the crook of her arm, shaking and meowing like a fretting child at every little noise in the house.

Another episode in and Miss Keane decided to make an appointment at the vet's office. In the three years she'd had Valentino he'd never acted like this or taken this long to calm down before, not even when The Dukes of Doom had come tearing through the neighborhood.

He whines when she moves him off her lap, but he doesn't follow her into the kitchen, instead running right back under the couch to his hiding spot.

She throws a frozen chicken and vegetable meal in the microwave while she digs through the phone book for the vet's number. The office's automated line kicked in after a few rings and she was about to leave them her number and explain what was wrong when Valentino absolutely shrieked bloody murder from the living room followed by the frantic scrabble of his paws on the floor like he was bolting around.

"What's gotten into you?" She asks with her hand politely over the phone's speaker. When the racket in the next room doesn't stop she sticks her head out of the kitchen doorway. " _Valentino_."

Valentino was pacing in front of the window next to the front door, ears flat against his skull, tail bristled, back arched up, and making the most awful growling noise between his distressed yowling. She couldn't even hear the electronic voice giving her buttons to press for options like the business hours for how loud he was crying.

She sets the phone down- if she couldn't hear, then whoever got her message probably couldn't either- and goes to the door. The cat leaps into her arms as soon as she's close enough, arcing his body around to hiss and bare his teeth at the window while trying to hide against her neck.

Miss Keane shushes him and squints out into the dark, "What do you think is out there?"

It takes her all of about five seconds to realize she's staring right at someone.

They're close enough to the glass to fog it from their breath and block out the glow from the street lamp. For a second she's frozen, a surreal sort of shock leaving her just staring at the crudely cut eye holes in the black mask. It's when the window frame rattles and she realizes they're trying to open it that her brain finally kicks back into gear.

Her feet are moving before she's really aware of it. She needs a phone and a locked door. Now.

The sound of shattering glass is weirdly quiet- or maybe it's just the roaring of the blood pounding in her ears that's making everything sound muffled- as she skids on the kitchen tile, scrabbling for the phone she left on the counter.

Valentino leaps out of her arms with a shriek and it's the best warning she could have asked for because it gives her time to wrench open the microwave before she hears heavy foot falls behind her. In one motion she turns and flings the steaming, watered down mix right at the masked face. As soon as she hears the hiss of the boiling water making contact and the shout of pain she bolts, running out the back archway of the kitchen and into the hall, holding onto the phone for dear life.

When the footsteps are thundering behind her again Miss Keane starts throwing down obstacles. The decorative table in the middle of the hall, pictures and teaching certificates off the walls, anything that she can grab to either throw down in the floor to try and trip them up or haul off blindly behind her and hope she got a hit in. If she could get to the utility closet she could lock them out, the door was thick and the lock was one of those heavy duty numbers that would take an ax she didn't own or taking the hinges off to get in. From there she could call the police and The Girls to get them out of her home-

A hand catches the end of her red vest and yanks.

They struggle and push and pull at each other in the thin, cramped hallway until another wrenching tug has her tripping over her own feet. When she stumbles and hits her shoulder on the wall she digs her short nails into the arm fisted in her vest with one hand and grabs a picture off the wall with the other and brings it down as hard as she can against the intruder's head. They let her go, pawing at the broken glass caught in the toboggan mask.

She's never hit anyone before but she rears back and slams her closed fist right where she thinks their temple is and takes the opening it makes when they stagger. The pain of glass digging into her bare feet only dimly registers as she takes off again, if anything it distracts from the terror and panic and helps her focus on the utility door just a few feet away.

As soon as she's through the frame she turns to slam the door behind her only to have it grabbed by a gloved hand. They're both throwing their body weight onto the wood and even though she's so much smaller in height and weight, she's able to hold her own well enough. While she strains to push the door shut with her shoulder she hits 911 on the phone she's miraculously kept a hold on.

"I'm calling the police!" She yells over their combined banging and grunting, hoping it might scare them off.

 _"This is 911, what is your emergency?"_

"Someone's in my house, 1527 Peggy Lane-"

The hand that had been keeping her from fully shutting the door shoves further in, swatting blindly until it grabs her arm hard enough to bruise.

" _ **Let go!**_ " She lets her shoulder off the door just enough to get a little leverage before she throws her body weight back onto it and is rewarded with a quiet crunch when the wrist gets caught between the door and the frame.

A deep, grainy voice spits curses at her, calling her every name in the book, telling her she'd be sorry, and she just pushes the door that much harder.

 _"Ma'am, are you okay? Hold on, we're sending help."_

From over the pounding of her heart and the adrenaline buzzing in her head, she's suddenly aware of a distant pounding coming through her house. Before she can even decide if it's important enough to give a second thought to the voice that had been swearing at her shouts in alarm and the arm is pulled back through the doorway. She takes the chance to shut and lock it, not caring how or why the weight on the other side had vanished and sinks down with her back against the wood.

Out in the hall there are grunts and something heavy- bodies?- hitting against the walls and floor. She could have believed Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had somehow known she was in trouble, maybe saw the broken window while they were flying around town. But there was another noise some kind of hiss or growl, nothing that could come out of a five year old girl.

After a particularly loud thump everything goes quiet.

Again, she hears footsteps coming towards her. Another beat of silence and "Miss K? You alright?"

 _Ace_

Jumping up Miss Keane fumbles with the lock and throws open the door. The first thing she sees those strange dark eyes worriedly looking at her over his sunglasses and before she knows what she's doing she's throwing her arms around his too thin waist and hugging the daylights out of him.

She lets go when she remembers how skittish he is about being touched. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's cool." Ace rubs the darkening bruises across his busted knuckles and shakes his head. "Forget about _my_ hangups, someone just busted into your place and came after you, are _you_ okay?"

She looks down at her own hands, fluttering like birds from the aftershocks of the attack. "I will be."

"Good. Now," Ace nods his head towards the utility closet, "that thing lock from the outside too?"

She looks around Ace to the burglar laid out flat on the floor and decides that, yes, she's definitely on board with this plan."Only with the key, it's on top of the doorframe. I can get the step ladder from-"

"I got it." He doesn't even have to go up onto his tip toes, just reaches up and runs his hand over the frames ledge until he finds it, then drops in into her hand.

The intruder doesn't move or make any noise when Ace fists the back of their jacket or when he drags them over and throws them into the closet. As soon as the limp body is far enough in Ace shuts the door and Miss Keane locks it.

"C'mon, yer feet are bleedin'." The teen's arm goes around her shoulders and leads her away from the closet, moving debries out of her way as they go, even picking her up and over when they got to the broken picture.

This is it, she thinks, this is the side of him that his friends see, this is why they follow him the way they do.

"What are you doing here?" She asks when they make it into the living room.

"You never showed up at your take-out place and the radio said there was a bad wreck a few blocks away. I wasn't bein' creepy or nothin', just wanted to make sure you were okay. Then I saw _that_." He inclines his head to the shattered window.

"You've been doing that a lot haven't you? That's why you just pop up sometimes." The revelation comes as a relief, strange as it is. To know someone's looking out for her, even if it is a kid that needs looking after more than she does.

He looks down at his feet as a weird blotch of color spreads across the bridge of his nose, thin and almost teal, that makes his freckles stand out and she thinks it might be how he blushes with his.. complexion. "Like I said, I wasn't tryin' to be creepy, honest. I'm just real grateful for what you did for me and the only way I can really think to pay you back was check in on you sometimes. Make sure you were gettin' home safe an' all that jazz. Snake says I got a 'complex' or whatever ya call it."

She sits gingerly on the couch, taking the pressure off her cut up feet. "I'm _really_ glad you do, it saved me. Thank you."

He ducks his head like the thanks embarrasses him and it looks like he's trying to figure out how to respond when an insistent chitter pulls both their attention. Valentino comes trotting out from under the couch, meowing every breath like he was wanting to know what in the hell just happened in his house.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so glad you're okay." Miss Keane sighs as the cat comes and wraps around her ankles, fur still a little bristled, but unhurt.

Surprisingly, Valentino goes over to Ace, getting up on his hind legs and softly pawing at the teen's pant leg, talking with little trilling sounds like he's greeting an old friend.

" 'Ey, V-man." Ace answers the babble and crouches down.

She watches in fascination as Ace picks up her cat, the two gently butt their foreheads together and rub noses. It's honestly one of the most adorable things she's ever seen.. if a little confusing.

"Valentino catches me every time I come around." Ace answers the unasked question while Valentino inspects his reflection in the teens glasses. "I started playin' with him through the window an' I guess we're bros now. Right?"

The cat purrs, trying to nudge his nose up under Ace's shades.

Then they hear the sirens.

"I got a call through to the police." Miss Keane says as Ace stiffens at the sound, shoulders going up like he was raising his hackles.

He puts Valentino down and the cat meows at him forlornly. "I'd bett'a go."

"You don't have to." Gently putting her hand on his arm she tries to stop his retreat. "You saved me tonight, Ace. I'll tell them that, they won't-"

"Miss K." The look he gives her makes her trail off, it makes him look so much older than he is and, unfortunately, she knows why. "It ain't gonna matter what you say or what I did, it ain't gonna change their opinion about what I am. If I'm here when they come through that door, it ain't gonna end good for me. If ya really wanna thank me, don't tell'em I was here."

He was right, she knew he was, and it wasn't _fair_.

"Okay, I won't tell them." She picked up Valentino, who seemed adamant about following his new friend.

"Thanks, Miss K. See ya." He heads for the sliding glass door at the back of the den that lead out to the side yard.

"Good bye, Ace. Thank you and be safe."

* * *

"Evening, Miss Keane."

She looks up from where she'd been tracing the swirl patterns of the chair the police had told her to sit in while they processed the man that had broken into her home. "Mr. Wednesday. What are you doing here, CPS is on the third floor."

The massive man leans against the wall like they're just a couple of friends playing catch-up. "If you'll remember, I used to be a regular cop before I took up being a truancy officer and I still come down here to talk to my friends."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"Ouch. That was harsh." He doesn't seem bothered by the shade though; hard-ass that he was, she doubted he was much bothered by anything. "I heard what happened at your house, everybody's worried about you."

"I'm fine, thank you." She tells him dismissively, but he stays right where he is, planted like a tree.

"Oh, I'm sure you are." His tone is casual- so much so that it's obvious he's accusing her. "They tell me you did one hell of a number on him. There's glass in his face, bruises, missing teeth.. Then you locked him up. You're, what? Barely five feet tall? And tossed a dead weight, five foot nine, unconscious man in a closet."

When she smiles at him there's no humor in it. "I think you and I both know what I'm capable of- or do you and I need another dodge ball game?"

Wednesday holds his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'll pass. But your cat helped out too didn't it?"

Her eyes narrow at him, trying to figure out what he's getting at as he fixes her with a knowing look from under his fedora.

"Must be one big cat. Those gouges are pretty deep- spaced out too, almost like," Jack holds his hand up, crooking his fingers to imitate claws," ..almost like a hand. You got a tiger or something, Keane?"

Oh no

"I got a few good scratches in myself." She says, looking down her nose at him, daring him to call her a liar.

" _Sure_ you did." He pushes off the wall, inspecting something in his hand before dropping it into her lap. It's a red, white, and blue layered wrist band. "Give that back to Ace next time you see him. Your burglar had it caught in those tacky buckles on his jacket, must've pulled it off when they were fighting."

Miss Keane breathes a hard sigh through her nose as he walks away, staring down at the band. She shouldn't say anything, pretend she hadn't even heard him, forget he was even here and just make it easy, but..

"He's not a bad kid, Wednesday."

The man stops and the silence stretches long passed being awkward. Then she swears she sees his shoulders drop a fraction.

"You're preaching to the choir, Keane, I know he's not. He's just what society convinced him he is."

 _"..it ain't gonna change their opinion about what I am.."_

Miss Keane puts her head in her hands, not knowing if she wants to cry or scream. "It's not fair."

"It never is. You can't save every kid, Keane, and I don't think Ace would take a lifeboat if you offered him one. I think the best we can hope for is for him to realize that he can save himself."

* * *

 _The worst thing is watching someone drown and not being able to convince them that they can save themselves by just standing up_

* * *

 _Thank you for reading_


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